11of 16A vehicle parked too close to a corner receives a friendly notice in the King William neighborhood. Residents of the King William and Lavaca neighborhoods are provided the notice by their associations to place on vehicles in possible violation of city parking codes.Photo: Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News

12of 16A vehicle is illegally parked in the 100 block of Madison Street during the most recent First Friday. The vehicle was later moved by the owner, who was a guest at the Jackson House, a bed and breakfast.Photo: Edward A. Ornelas /San Antonio Express-News

On a rainy spring morning, Minnie Garza-Jaber received a call from her mother saying that her 87-year-old father, who suffers from dementia, was wandering the nearby streets. Garza-Jaber, a retired special education teacher who lives behind Liberty Bar in the King William Historic District, rushed out to try to search for him, only to discover a vehicle was blocking her driveway.

She called the police to remove the vehicle, but when an officer arrived, he wanted to wait for the car’s owner to come claim it rather than tow the vehicle immediately.

Meanwhile, a block away, diners were enjoying their brunch at the multitude of restaurants along South Alamo Street.

Garza-Jaber suspects that most likely the car blocking her driveway wasn’t a neighbor because her property is the only one on the street, and restaurant patrons regularly use it for parking.

“Everyone has the right to earn a living, but I also want my rights to be respected,” Garza-Jaber said. “I frequent the restaurants. I love the restaurants. I love my neighborhood. But I also want to feel like when I come to my house, I’m at home.”

Situations like this have become a more frequent occurrence in Southtown, the historic King William and Lavaca neighborhoods south of downtown. Once a quiet area that was known mostly as a home to artists and galleries, the district has transformed into a restaurant hub that attracts waves of people, especially on First Friday. As a result, diners sometimes park in front of driveways and fire hydrants as well as inhibit visibility on street corners.

Businesses and city officials are working alongside Lavaca and King William leaders to find ways to alleviate the increase in foot and vehicle traffic in Southtown. People living in the area say they are frustrated; they love their neighborhood and want others to enjoy it, too. But they feel restaurant patrons often violate parking rules without repercussion from the city.

Harman came to San Antonio from New York City four years ago, so she’s no stranger to congestion in big cities.

In New York, she was able to park with metered spots or in a garage. But here in San Antonio, she often is forced to park blocks away from her home.

She said San Antonio Independent School District employees working in the neighborhood are her main concern. Harman says they often park illegally, block driveways or park within 30 feet of corners.

Officials from SAISD said they have told their employees to only use their parking lots, but sometimes overflow causes them to park on the street.

The construction crews working at nearby HemisFair Park also are forced to park throughout the neighborhood streets.

“When you live in an urban area and you have construction going on, usually parking is provided. There is consideration about how many vehicles and employees and where they will park,” said Harman, who doesn’t see any evidence that’s happening here.

Donnelly joined the Lavaca Neighborhood Association two years ago. Despite not living there, he wants to support the area’s residents.

“I want to make sure the residents are safe from harm because I know with restaurants and businesses coming in, it affects the neighborhoods,” he said.

Donnelly called the United Way, which has a location a half-block north of his restaurant, and offered to pay liability insurance so he could offer his diners valet service and park their cars in its lot. But he said the United Way declined to work with him.

“United Way has a large parking lot, which is funded by us taxpayers,” Donnelly said. “It’s funded by donations that we all give to the United Way, and we’re trying to get them involved with the solution for an upcoming neighborhood that wants to support businesses and growth.”

The United Way did not respond to multiple interview requests, but in an emailed statement they said, in part, that their parking lot is reserved for volunteers and staff. The exceptions include availability for other nonprofits who are involved with their organization.

Further development in the area likely will mean more visitors.

The first phase of HemisFair Park is being developed now, and the new downtown H-E-B store on Flores Street is expected to open later this year. Both projects are in the district’s northern fringe.

Despite the concerns of people who live there, the city doesn’t expect the situation to get worse in the coming months.

“The city commissioned a traffic impact analysis to look at the traffic in the area, taking into account the new housing developments and grocery store,” said Lori Houston, director of Center City Development and Operations Department. “As a result of the study, H-E-B constructed several traffic improvements to mitigate traffic concerns. Due to these improvements, the level of service of the streets will not decrease; it will either improve or stay the same.”

Current situation

During the incident with her father, Garza-Jaber waited 15 minutes for the car’s owner to arrive before deciding she couldn’t wait any longer. She walked in the rain to her mother’s house on Guenther Street and finally was able to start her search for her father.

The Korean War veteran father was found safe but confused on Probrandt, searching for his childhood home.

The lack of parking enforcement left Garza-Jaber frustrated.

King William and Lavaca dwellers are no strangers to guests. The annual Fiesta King William Festival has been attracting people by the hundreds since it first began in 1968, but until recent years, waves of visitors weren’t constant and didn’t mean regular headaches for the locals

In the mid-1980s, a group of arts supporters started the Blue Star Art Complex in a collection of abandoned warehouses southwest of King William, along the San Antonio River. In the mid-’90s, First Friday began as an art show block party where people would gather to visit various galleries.

That was followed by its evolution into a mainly restaurant-oriented event.

Rosario’s Mexican Cafe y Cantina and La Tuna Ice House opened their doors in 1992. Blue Star Brewing Co. would open in the arts complex in 1996. A number of other restaurants and bars followed suit starting in 2000, including Mad Hatters Tea House and Cafe, Tito’s Mexican Restaurant and The Friendly Spot.

Since then, the pace of new business has accelerated. At least 20 restaurants and bars have opened in Southtown since 2010. Just this year alone, The House Boozy Ice Cream and Brews, Revolucion Coffee + Juice, A La Mode Gelato have joined the scene.

In its current form, First Friday attracts an eclectic group of people. Families can head to the Friendly Spot, where the adults can socialize and have a drink while their children play in the jungle gym. Younger crowds gather to bar hop along South Alamo.

But even as the traffic to the area grew, the available parking space didn‘t.

“We parked about a five-minute walk away. Right now, we just come for an hour and half, and there’s still daylight for us to leave. We feel safe. But when we’re not in daylight savings time, it gets darker earlier, and we don’t want to park that far,” said Irene Sandoval, a property manager who visited Southtown. “Where we parked right now, we wouldn’t have done that if it was dark. We don’t really come during the colder seasons.”

Rene Fernadez owns Azuca Nuevo Latino and Starfish on South Alamo Street. He has parking for both of his establishments and offers valet service on Fridays and Saturdays. Although he has 15 spaces for Starfish and 20 for Azuca, parking for his customers is still a problem for him — and has been for several years.

“I’m sure where there is a will there is a way, but I don’t see an immediate improvement,” said Fernandez. “I think there are much bigger priorities.”

Although Southtown overall has gone through a gastronomic takeover, the Blue Star Arts Complex still exists and a few artists remain.

Artist Al Rendon has lived and worked in his studio off South Alamo Street for 14 years. He was once able to meet with his clients at home, but the congestion and unavailability of parking spaces in the area has forced Rendon to discourage customers from visiting his office. He instead sees clients elsewhere.

“This wasn’t too bad with just Rosario’s and Focaccia, but 12 restaurants have opened in three years,” Rendon said. “I love them, and I want them to succeed. But if the restaurants have no parking, how are they going to survive?”

Solutions

Despite some gridlock in trying to resolve the parking predicament, progress has been made.

In October, Lavaca and King William associations formed a parking committee. The neighborhood leadership also conducted informal surveys to gather opinions on the issue from their neighbors and contacted the CCDO to discuss possible solutions.

“I think we’re all pretty much in line,” said Jeff McPherson, president of the Lavaca Neighborhood Association. “We basically just want the rules enforced. We don’t want any new rules or restrictions, but we see our neighborhood thriving, and if we don’t get proactive … people won’t be able to come down here.”

Both associations want an engineering study of the area to evaluate precisely what needs to be done, whether it be more rigorous enforcement of the current rules or possibly increased parking regulations.

For now, residents have been using place cards on visitors’ windshields explaining what kind of tickets they could face if the parking rules were more strictly enforced by police.

Sgt. Javier Salazar said in a statement that if anyone feels there is a parking issue on a city street that needs to be addressed, they can contact the police or the city’s parking division. Since the beginning of the year, the San Antonio Police Department and the city’s parking enforcement officers collectively have written 107 parking citations on Lavaca Street for a variety of violations.

In parts of Lavaca alongside Interstate 37 near the Alamodome, the city issues decals so that people living there have sole access to their street during events at the stadium. The city is looking to implement that program in the King William District for use during First Friday.

On the western edge of King William, the downtown H-E-B store will have 47 parking spaces for its customers, and there will be designated separate parking for employees. In response to King William residents’ concerns about congestion overflow, the city has issued permits giving residents sole access to park on Arsenal and City streets nearby through residential parking permits. The move was in anticipation of the H-E-B’s scheduled opening in November, city officials said.

City officials and other restaurant owners also are looking to gain access into parking lots of businesses that are unused at night.

Officials from SAISD said that in the coming weeks they will discuss allowing Feast restaurant owner Andrew Goodman to use a nearby school district central administration lot for his new Italian restaurant, inside the old firehouse on South Alamo Street.

The school district already allows Magik Theatre show attendees to park in the central administration parking lot on Lavaca Street on weekends.

The city currently has no plans to build any parking garages, according to Houston.

Parking garages are allowed downtown, which King William and Lavaca fall under, with the stipulations that they cannot be within 25 feet of the San Antonio River nor can they be visible from the river. But first an engineering study would have to be conducted to determine whether parking is a constant concern, or if it’s only problematic during First Friday and the weekends when visitors come in flocks, according to Houston.

The city isn’t currently planning such a study, but if the parking permits and decal programs that are currently in place are determined to be insufficient solutions, the CCDO will have conversations with the neighborhood leadership about funding the study with public and private funds.

In preparation for the opening of Yanaguana Garden in HemisFair Park, scheduled for the end of the year, park planners have procured spots from adjacent hotels, the Tower of the Americas, the federal courthouse, located in the park, and SAISD’s lots. The goal is for HemisFair to eventually have its own parking facility — either surface or underground — but that’s years away.

Most people living in Southtown said they don’t want any restrictions that would limit the success of the neighborhood’s businesses. Rather, they want stricter enforcement of the regulations that are in place along with the added solutions proposed by the CCDO.

“It’s really about the safety issue, and of course there is trash,” said Cherise Bell, executive director of the King William Association. “Our main issue is for safety, not only for the residents, but also for the visitors — because when you block those sight lines, we even have people getting injured from out of town. We don’t want anyone getting hurt.”